Morningside College has awarded its 2016 Sharon Walker Faculty Excellence Awards to Dr. Valerie Hennings, assistant professor of political science; Dr. Jessica Pleuss, assistant professor of psychology; and Dr. Timothy Sesterhenn, assistant professor of biology.

Hennings Pleuss Sesterhenn

Morningside College has awarded its 2016 Sharon Walker Faculty Excellence Awards to Dr. Valerie Hennings, assistant professor of political science; Dr. Jessica Pleuss, assistant professor of psychology; and Dr. Timothy Sesterhenn, assistant professor of biology.

Morningside President John Reynders presented the awards during the annual faculty banquet held Nov. 18 at the Sioux City Country Club. The recipients, selected from a field of applicants by a panel of three outside evaluators, will each receive a $10,000 honorarium and $2,000 to use for faculty development.

Morningside alumni Jim and Sharon Walker of Wayzata, Minn., established the Sharon Walker Faculty Excellence Awards in 2003.

Criteria for selection include teaching excellence, effective advising, scholarship and service to Morningside College. The awards are based upon the accomplishments and activities of a faculty member during the previous academic year.

Hennings started teaching at Morningside in 2014. She has a bachelor’s degree from Morningside College, a master’s degree from George Washington University; and master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Pleuss joined the Morningside faculty in 2012. She received a bachelor’s degree from Valparaiso University; and master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Minnesota.

Sesterhenn has been teaching at Morningside since 2014. He received a bachelor’s degree from Ohio Wesleyan University and a doctorate from the University of Kentucky.

Evaluators for the 2016 Sharon Walker Faculty Excellence Awards were Dr. Kimberly Jarvis, associate professor of history, Doane College, Crete, Neb.; Dr. Patrick Mathews, professor of biology and director of zoo science, Friends University, Wichita, Kan.; and Dr. Paula Schmidt, chair and associate professor of education, Clarke University, Dubuque, Iowa.